phytoplankton

November 19 – Doom and Bloom? – Scientists say the amount of zooplankton—the tiny animals near the base of the ocean food web—hit an all-time low this spring in waters off the U.S. Northeast. The latest ecosystem advisory from NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center says the biomass of zooplankton this spring on the Northeast Shelf was the lowest…

A recent scientific article from four Maine ocean scientists reminded me of a not-very-good environmental joke. An archangel was reporting to God all the terrible things that humans had done to the earth’s environment. God listened patiently as the list expanded, interjecting regularly that the archangel was not to worry; these events had all been anticipated. But when the angel reported that there was now a hole in the ozone layer, God bolted upright in shock: “I told them not to mess with the ozone layer!”